The Highlander
by Smileyfax
Summary: Daria, having stayed in Highland instead of going to Lawndale, is evicted from home and forced to take up new lodgings with two old friends...


Daria watched from the audience with Helen and Jake as Quinn strode across the stage and accepted her diploma from Mr. McVicker. Daria applauded hard -- Quinn had earned her diploma, after all, and class valedictorian was...

Well, Daria supposed, in Highland, it WAS something to sneeze at. Three of Quinn's classmates were graduating noticeably pregnant; Daria's class had had four pregnancies. (Not counting the women who had dropped out before graduating because they had already given birth, of course).

Daria hated Highland, hated it down to her toenails.

The Morgendorffers had almost escaped the town once, four years ago. Helen had had an interview to join a law firm in some town called Lawndale, but Helen had returned to Highland empty-handed, muttering about 'damn perverts'. Daria decided she didn't want to know.

So, Helen stayed at her job, Joe Adler's legal secretary, and Jake continued to work for a boss he hated, sinking deeper into alcoholism. It looked like Quinn's graduation would be the last time the two would be seen together -- their divorce would be finalized in a few weeks.

XXXX

Quinn embraced Daria, who bore an expression of distinct discomfort with the situation. "Daria, I'm going to miss you," Quinn said emotionally.

"Uh, yeah. Me too, Quinn," Daria said awkwardly.

Quinn relented, but placed her hands on Daria's shoulders. "Get the hell out of this town, Daria, as fast as you can," she begged.

"What the hell do you think I've been trying to do for the past year, Quinn?" Daria asked, annoyed.

The tight money situation at the Morgendorffer household had resulted in Helen and Jake being unable to give any money to Daria for college; she had managed to get into Highland Community College on scholarships and a loan or two. Then, to Daria's great outrage, a month before her graduation, Helen revealed she had been saving up a college nest egg for Quinn -- enough to go to Pepperhill for four years.

That night, Quinn had unexpectedly come to Daria's room, sobbing, begging Daria to take the money, since Daria was the smart one. Daria, taken completely off-guard, had rejected it, pointing out that Quinn didn't exactly become class valedictorian by sleeping through class. They had stayed up all night, reconciling the past eighteen years of hostility between them.

Not to say that they didn't still get into squabbles, though.

"I know, Daria, geez. Just...I worry about leaving you here, you know? You still hang around those two idiots --"

"I'm their manager."

Quinn rolled her eyes. "Well, what about that Oozey Todd guy? He uses those two lamebrains all the time for his...stuff. He's bad news, Daria."

Daria couldn't argue that.

"Look, Daria, I promise I'll rescue you someday. Okay?"

Daria looked at Quinn's eyes, how earnest they were. "Okay, Quinn," not exactly believing it.

The sisters exchanged goodbyes (Quinn's a bit more teary-eyed than Daria's), and Quinn got into her car (paid for by Helen, of course) and left for Pepperhill.

XXXX

Several days later, Daria had an unpleasant homecoming after her daily shift at Burger World: Two moving vans were parked outside the Morgendorffer home. Men were moving boxes into the van.

She noticed Jake standing on the opposite side of the street, martini glass in hand, his drunk face on. "Hey, kiddo," he said mellowly.

"Hi, dad," she said lamely. She didn't like Drunk Jake.

"So, I guess Hell...Helen kicked me the hell out," Jake said without preamble. "I knew it was coming, 'fcourse. Found a low-rent apartment in town..." He glanced at his eldest daughter. "Only room for one, Daria. Sorry." He took another long pull from his martini. "Hell...Helen said that she was...was gonna sell the house, and move in...move in with some guy." Jake sneered, an act which crumpled his entire face into a bitter mask. "She said...she said she wants you t'get your own place in...in the next week or two." Jake shrugged. "Sorry, kiddo."

Daria nodded once, deliberately -- she had sensed this coming for some time now. She couldn't afford to get an apartment, so there was only one place she could go.

She wished like hell she didn't have to, though.

XXXX

"Huh-huh-huh, this video sucks," Butt-head passed judgement.

"Heh-heh, yeah, Butt-head. It's, like, are all bands pussies now, or what?" Beavis agreed.

The dunderheaded duo had not changed much in the several years since they had dropped out of high school. They might have been a bit fatter (teenage motabolism not lasting forever, tragically), but they retained their sensibilities -- still immature as a developmentally-disabled child, to be precise.

Butt-head turned toward the front door with dull interest, as he heard knocking. "Huh-huh, someone's at the door."

"Oh yeah," Beavis said, glancing toward the door, then back to the TV. Even though the videos sucked, there were still lots of chicks with their thingies practically hanging out.

Butt-head bitch-slapped his longtime friend. "Go get the door, dumbass," he reprimanded.

"Aaaaah!" Beavis screamed, rubbing the red mark on his cheek. "Okay!" He got up and opened the door.

"Hi, Beavis," Daria said defeatedly. "Can I stay with you and Butt-head for a while?"

Beavis scrunched his face up in what passed as thought for a moment, then lit up. He turned to Butt-head. "Hey, Butt-head! Daria wants to do it with us!"

"Cool!" the brunette declared.

Daria sighed and began gently banging her head against the doorframe.

XXXXX

I've always wanted to see a good "Daria stays in Highland" fic, but nobody ever seems interested in that time period of her life. :( The only one I can think of is the one (I don't recall the title at the moment) where Daria goes on a killing spree -- getting Todd with booby-trapped alcohol, poisoning somebody's car handle with pure nicotine, exploding a bar -- but the revelation at the end of the fic was a huge let-down. (I wrote Someone Set Up Us the Bomb as kind of a response to that, actually -- I wanted to see a Daria who really did go crazy, carry out revenge schemes of a more grandiose nature, until she finally graduated to nuclear terrorism to destroy the entire system which had wronged her).

I don't have anyplace to go in particular with this fic just yet...which is one of my greater sins as a writer, I suppose. (I really should start planning stuff out). Oh well, I'll muddle through it eventually. I promise! 


End file.
